Panathinaikos grabbed quite a significant road win in Lithuania. It dominated Zalgiris Kaunas 78-73 in THY Euroleague Top16 game 8, Roko Leni Ukic getting to quite a performance for yet another eve, Dimitris Diamantidis to leave the floor behind a double-double and James Gist to win many battles finishing up the game with 12 points and 9 rebounds.
The two teams went neck and neck for the greatest part of the encounter never to essentially escape one another’s shadow. Panathinaikos led first (2-6, 1’55’’), Zalgiris to answer back to 7-6 (2’55’’). First quarter played out at the same pace with the Lithuanians to get to their largest advantage slightly prior to the quarter’s end (22-17, 8’10’’). The ante was upped to 6 for the home-team (33-27 at 14’20’’, 43-37 at 19’), as it mainly exploited second chances offer to it through offensive boards picked up. A trifecta drilled by Ukic however picked up the slack once more (43-40) at half time.
Zalgiris Kaunas seemed to slightly hold the superlative through the third quarter, Panathinaikos though continuing to enforce pressure and actually managing to regain the lead (51-53, 26’10’’). Third quarter rested at 58-56, the hosts to pull a bucket at the buzzer. The clover bloomed during fourth quarter. Sofoklis Schortsanitis in the first minutes and then Diamantidis, Gist and Ukic put their seal. 67-66 (35’25’’) became 69-75 (37’40’’) behind 5 consecutive points, the Lithuanians caught up (71-75, 38’) but the Croatian Green guard stepped up once more. He snatched the offensive board and made a hoop to 71-77, 21’’ pending on the game clock, Darjus Lavrinovic aided his team to come within 4, scoring to 73-77 only for Jason Kapono to go 1-for-2 from the line to fix final game score 73-78.
Referees: Lamonica (ITA), Dozai (CRO), Latisevs (LAT)
Quarter: 22-19, 43-40, 58-56, 73-78
Zalgiris Kaunas (Plaza): Darden 9, McGrath, Popovic 10, Lavrinovic D. 4, Juskevicius, Javtokas 8, Kuzminskas 5, Lafayette 15, Kaukenas 4, Foote 7, Lavrinovic K. 11
Panathiniakos (Pedoulakis): Bramos 8, Maciulis 4 (4rb), Kapono 4, Ukic 21 (6as), Lasme 9 (2bs), Tsartsaris 4, Diamantidis 13 (10as, 2st), Gist 12 (9rb), Xanthopoulos, Schortsanitis 3
